3D PRINTING STUDY FOR BATIK CANTING PATTERN DRAWING

The new 3D printing technology has opened an opportunity for rapid prototyping, providing a relatively fast and cost-efficient product development. Previous research on the automation of Batik Lukis technology has shown that 3D printing technologies are applicable avenues for customising the automation of batik patterns and design. The printability of batik wax, which is dependent on the printhead mechanism to expel the wax, and the extrudability of paste-type filling, which is dependent on the rheology of the wax itself, are two major issues in paste printing. The first difficulty addressed in this project is the mechanism for ejecting the batik wax paste into a predetermined design. Although there are widely accessible CNC machines for this purpose, such as the Batik Klowong Machine, which are popular in the markets, particularly in Indonesia, this project attempts to use 3D printing to print batik wax by changing the printhead mechanism. Results shows that low extrusion steps of 8 extrusion steps per millimeter are potentially good extrusion speeds for viscous fluid like canting cold wax. Even though the wax line barrier produced by 8 extrusion steps has some increment in width of 1 to 2 mm, the line produced seems relatively more consistent than any other extrusion steps.